Episode 1 of 1
1851 Fire
- When
- 1851-12-24
- Where
- Library of Congress
A fire on December 24, 1851, destroyed 35,000 books, including two-thirds of the library's collection and two-thirds of Jefferson's original transfer.
The fire was the largest in the library's history. It consumed 35,000 books, representing two-thirds of the total collection. Two-thirds of Thomas Jefferson's original transfer were also destroyed. This event significantly impacted the library's holdings and led to subsequent replacement efforts.
Sources
- Library of Congress Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-23
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.